Slashdot Mirror
Are Video Phones Back From The Dead?
gwizah writes: "A company by the name of Vialta is peddling a new product all you future loving geek's can enjoy, A VideoPhone! Yes, Im sure you can all remember the many attempts to bring video-phonecall technology into the home or office, but unlike the flying car, you can pick up a pair at Fry's today! According to some reviews at USA Today and the WSJ, the product works as advertised. A new way to call Grandma? Or just another silly little toy to collect dust in that hall closet."
No no you are not most likely you do not live near one. They are kind of a Costco for electronics and computer parts. Not too many stores.
http://www.frys.com/
Cypherpunks: Civil Liberty Through Complex Mathematics. Those who live by the sword die by the arrow.
David Foster Wallace described, in Infinite Jest, why video phones are unlikely to ever catch on, and I don't think he was the first. The great thing about the telephone is that one needn't give the person on the other end of the line one's complete attention.
On the telephone, you can look through a magazine, clip your toenails, read you email, or make a sandwich, all without the other person suspecting that you are not hanging on his or her every word. Meanwhile, you are free to maintain the illusion that the other person is giving you their undivided attention.
With video phones, it would immediately become clear that we busy 21st century people don't have the time or patience to be attentive throughout an electronic conversation. It also would make answering the phone in one's underwear riskier, and might make people feel like they needed to be made up and dressed well when in their own homes.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
How many of you want to be awakened by your boss calling you because you're late, and you have to stare at him through a camera, with your hair running every which way and eye crusties looming?
How many of you girls want to get calls from your hot date and have to show him your green exfoliating facial mask and curlers in your hair?
People like voice communication because it's easy to seem professional and mature on the other end, no matter what you are looking or feeling like. I can discuss networking plans in my shorts and undershirt at home, or order a pizza while I'm blind drunk, without fear that the other person is staring at one particular feature of me and giggling.
I predict absolutely no adoption of this for phone sex, either. You don't want to know what that sultry-sounding woman on the other end looks like.
Hey Taco! Looks like you're using the "infinite monkeys and typewriters" scheme to generate Ask Slashdots again...
Still is a grocery store in Arizona and some parts of California. Not too many years back, they started opening up the computer Fry's too.
According to some reviews at USA Today and the WSJ, the product works as advertised.
Gees, Louise! I'm used to slashdotters not reading the articles before submitting comments. But I don't even think the submitter read them this time!
From USAToday's review: But based on my tests, Beamer sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. And when it did, the pixilated video could be as jittery as Jell-O.
From WSJ review: That's much better than the 1992 AT&T phone did, but it's a far cry from normal, full-motion video. In our tests, if either of us moved too much, the video resembled that old, jerky footage of astronauts on the moon. And, when the connection quality deteriorated, or was poor to begin with, the video froze up momentarily. Also, there were times when our words didn't match up with our lips -- kind of like a badly dubbed movie.
This is works as advertised? I don't think so...
GMD
watch this
Where the hell do I find a Frys? Am I the only person whose never heard of the place?
Why don't you take a wild guess what their URL is? If that fails (God help you...) then you could always try a google search. If that fails, then not even God is going to waste time with you.
GMD
watch this
Count your blessings.
actually said by frys's employee:
"If you are on channel 4 of your CB, anybody in the world can here you if they are on channel 4."
yes, they are that clueless.
you have been warned.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on